The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for estimating the likelihood of statistical events. More particularly, embodiments of the invention provide methods and systems for estimating the failure rate of high-yielding integrated circuits. The invention is also applicable to sampling and estimation in a wide range of applications.
In integrated circuit applications, it is often desirable to achieve a very high yield. Therefore, there is a need for an effective method for yield estimation in the range of high yield. However, a high yield circuit has a low failure rate, and an accurate estimation of a high yield often require collecting samples of failure events that are relatively rare. As a result, conventional methods, such as Monte Carlo simulation, require a large number of samples and can be expensive. Other conventional methods also suffer from the limitations of computational cost and low accuracy of yield estimation.
Therefore, there is a need for improved methods and systems for analyzing and estimating high yield of integrated circuits and other statistical events.